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It’s nice to see MMD panicking over pact – HH

It’s nice to see MMD panicking over pact – HH
By Patson Chilemba
Sun 13 Dec. 2009, 04:01 CAT

UPND president Hakainde Hichilema has said it is nice to see the manner in which the ruling MMD is panicking over the PF-UPND pact. And Hichilema has maintained that President Rupiah Banda spent more than K1 billion on his recent three-day visit to the Western Province.

In a joint interview with Patriotic Front (PF) president Michael Sata soon after the two leaders finished evaluating the performance of the pact in the last six months of existence at Lusaka's Reedbuck Lodge on Friday, Hichilema said the pact had come to stay going by the positive response from Zambians as evidenced by the recent local government by-elections results.

He said the MMD's concern was to break the pact but they would not achieve that goal.
Hichilema said the panic within the MMD's ranks had been exhibited by President Rupiah Banda and Vice-President George Kunda who kept on attacking the leaders of the pact, depending on which province they went to.

“If the pact was of no positive impact, why would they be so concerned? They are concerned because they know the pact is definitely the next government. So that is their concern, and it's nice to see a ruling party panicking. This is an excellent position to be in,” Hichilema said.

“George Kunda is actually struggling to keep his Vice-Presidency because he has failed in almost every election where he has been campaigning, other than in Chitambo, his village. He is actually a concerned man who probably does not know what to do next in order to keep his job. So he would like to create confusion by throwing mud at others.”

And Sata said the pact had been successful in the last six months and was now targeting to get more MMD seats.

“We are planning to win more,” he said.

Sata wondered why the MMD was so concerned about the presidency of the pact as if they were members of the pact.

“We expect opposition from them anyway. We don't expect any nice things from them especially George Kunda and Shikapwasha,” said Sata

And reacting to information minister Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha who dismissed Hichilema's claims over President Banda's trip to Western Province as false because he was not privy to information pertaining to how much was spent on that trip, Hichilema said President Banda spent over K1 billion because he was extravagant.

“Let him Shikapwasha tell us how much he spent. If I am telling a lie can he explain, can he give us the figures of what that delegation, the whole delegation spent in Kalabo, all the days they were in Kalabo. And I mean that includes the plane, that includes the delegation that went on the plane, that includes the delegation for presidential motorcade that went ahead, the accommodation, fuel, everything,” Hichilema said.

“Can Shikapwasha tell the nation how much he President Banda spent since he is arguing with my figures? Can he tell us how much money they are going to spend for 40 people in Copenhagen, can he tell the people of Zambia, I challenge him.”

Asked if he maintained his position that President Banda spent K1 billion on the trip, Hichilema responded:

“Even more because they are extravagant. Before the President went there, they send people ahead, you know that very well, they always go on a large delegation. We have complained about this so that they stop spending money recklessly. Why does anybody need four planes, helicopters for what, to go to one trip? Let him answer that.”

On Lt Gen Shikapwasha's claim that Hichilema's statement was a total fabrication founded on his personal hatred for President Banda, Hichilema wondered why he should hate the President

“If a President fails to take responsibility for the crisis, the fuel crisis, petroleum supply crisis and says nobody is to blame, and if I say to him, 'he's the chief executive of the country, he must explain to the people why there was a fuel shortage', is that hating him?” Hichilema asked.

“If I say that look, 'you shouldn't give a contract to RP Capital Partners through Dora Siliya against the public procurement guidelines, public procurement Act of 2008, it is there, it is law', is that hating somebody?”

On Lt Gen Shikapwasha's assertions that the Hichilema was not reliable when it came to figures as he used guesswork to arrive at figures, Hichilema said Zambians knew who understood figures better between him and Lt Gen Shikapwasha.

He charged that Lt Gen Shikapwasha and his government were afraid of figures because they wanted to run the country in the dark.

Hichilema said large portions had been allocated in the National Budget for travels.

“We are saying on average the Ministry of Health, K27 billion which was lost, you know the Auditor General's initial reveal found out that in fact there was more money involved than K27 billion. So we said if we put on average, it was K27 point something. So because he doesn't understand arithmetic, we just moved to the nearest figures, it was K30 billion, that is what I said,” said Hichilema.

“But I can understand because he has limitations in numbers, and we challenge the President, let's carry out the full audits of ministries, the only way he can prove me wrong is by a full audit being carried, not sample audit, that K27 billion was a sample audit. Now if he doesn't understand arithmetic theory, when you do a sample you discover K27 billion, it means if you do a hundred per cent assessment, you get more than K27 billion. I am not the one who created mathematical formulas.”

Reacting to Hichilema's earlier claim that President Banda spent K1 billion on his recent trip to Western Province, Lt Gen Shikapwasha on Friday strongly refuted the assertions.

He stated that the statement from Hichilema was a total fabrication because the UPND leader was not privy to information pertaining to how much was spent on that trip.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha stated that Hichilema used guesswork to arrive at figures, saying he recently misinformed Zambians that each government ministry was losing K60 billion through corruption.

Lt Gen Shikapwasha charged that government took strong exception to leaders who were peddling lies in order to create hatred against the President.

Labels: HAKAINDE HICHILEMA, MMD, PF-UPND, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA, SATA

posted by MrK @ 4:23 AM